The inventive subject matter relates to electrical apparatus and, more particularly, to power converter apparatus.
A conventional power converter apparatus, such as a motor drive, may be composed of multiple functional modules. Such modules can provide improved scalability and flexibility, as the modules may be used in varying numbers and in different arrangements.
FIG. 1 illustrates a motor drive with such a modular construction. The motor drive includes one or more inverter modules 40, which are configured to be connected to one or more motors 50. The inverter modules 40 are coupled to respective groups of gate driver modules 30, which are configured to drive respective power semiconductor switches (e.g., insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs)) in the inverter modules 40. Respective local controller modules 20 provide gate drive signals A+, A−, B+, B−, C+, C− to the respective groups of gate driver modules 30 responsive to gate drive signals A+, A−, B+, B−, C+, C− received one parallel signal lines from a main controller module 10. The local controller modules 20 may also receive supervisory command signals from the main controller module 10 on individual signal lines, and the local controller modules 20 may return status information (e.g., command acknowledgements, sensor data, alarms, and the like) to the main controller module 10 on individual signal lines. While FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a conventional motor drive, other types of converter apparatus, such as uninterruptible power supplies (UPSs), grid tied inverters, and the like, may use similar architectures.